Notify testers about new builds

The optional Firebase App Distribution iOS and Android SDKs let you display in-app alerts to your testers when new builds of your app are available to install. This guide explains how to use the App Distribution iOS and Android SDKs to create and customize new build alerts for your testers.

Before you begin

If you haven't already, add Firebase to your iOS project.

Step 1: Enable the App Distribution Tester API

1. Select your project in the Google Cloud console.

2. Under Firebase App Testers API, click Enable.

Step 2: Add App Distribution to your app

1. Open the Podfile you created for the project (or run pod init to create one), then add the following line inside the target section:

   pod 'FirebaseAppDistribution'

2. In the directory of your podfile, run pod install, then open the created .xcworkspace file.

3. Import the Firebase module in your App struct or UIApplicationDelegate:

   Swift

   importFirebaseCore
   importFirebaseAppDistribution
   

   Objective-C

   @importFirebaseCore;
   @importFirebaseAppDistribution;
   

4. Configure a FirebaseApp shared instance in your app delegate's application(_:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:) method:

   Swift

   // Use Firebase library to configure APIs
   FirebaseApp.configure()
   

   Objective-C

   // Use Firebase library to configure APIs
   [FIRAppconfigure];
   

5. If swizzling is disabled, pass any opened URLs to the App Distribution SDK in your implementation of application(_:open:options:):

   Swift

   funcapplication(_app:UIApplication,
   openurl:URL,
   options:[UIApplication.OpenURLOptionsKey:Any]=[:])->Bool{
   ifAppDistribution.appDistribution().application(application,open:url,options:options){
   returntrue
   }
   // Handle other non-Firebase URLs here.
   returnfalse
   }
   

   Objective-C

   - (BOOL)application:(UIApplication*)app
   openURL:(NSURL*)url
   options:(NSDictionary<UIApplicationOpenURLOptionsKey,id>*)options{
   if([[FIRAppDistributionappDistribution]application:appopenURL:urloptions:options]){
   returnYES;
   }
   // Handle other non-Firebase URLs here.
   returnNO;
   }
   

6. Finally, recompile your app.

Step 3: Configure in-app alerts

The App Distribution SDK provides two ways of setting up in-app build alerts for your testers: a basic alert configuration, which comes with pre-built app update and sign-in dialogues to display to testers, and an advanced alert configuration, which allows you to customize your own user interface. We recommend first using the basic alert configuration if you're new to the App Distribution SDK.

Basic configuration

Use checkForUpdate to display a pre-built enable alerts dialogue to testers who haven't yet enabled alerts, and then check if a new build is available. When called, the method enacts the following sequence:

1. Checks if a tester has enabled alerts by prompting them to sign into App Distribution with their Google account.

2. If the tester has not yet enabled alerts, displays a pre-built dialogue.

   Enabling alerts is a one-time process on the test device and persists across updates of your app. Alerts remain enabled on the test device until either the app is uninstalled, or until the signOutTester method is called. See the method's reference documentation (Swift or Objective-C) for more information.

3. Checks for newly available builds for the tester to install.

You can invoke checkForUpdate() at any point in your app. For example, you can prompt your testers to install newly available builds at startup by including checkForUpdate() in the onAppear(perform:) of your app's root view.

The following example checks whether or not the tester has enabled alerts and has access to a new build, and if so, displays a dialogue when the build is available to install:

AppDistribution.appDistribution().checkForUpdate(completion:{release,errorin
iferror!=nil{
// Handle error
return
}
guardletrelease=releaseelse{
return
}
// Customize your alerts here.
lettitle="New Version Available"
letmessage="Version \(release.displayVersion)(\(release.buildVersion)) is available."
letuialert=UIAlertController(title:title,message:message,preferredStyle:.alert)
uialert.addAction(UIAlertAction(title:"Update",style:UIAlertAction.Style.default){
_in
UIApplication.shared.open(release.downloadURL)
})
uialert.addAction(UIAlertAction(title:"Cancel",style:UIAlertAction.Style.cancel){
_in
})
// self should be a UIViewController.
self.present(uialert,animated:true,completion:nil)
})

[[FIRAppDistributionappDistribution]
checkForUpdateWithCompletion:^(FIRAppDistributionRelease*_Nullablerelease,
NSError*_Nullableerror){
if(error){
// Handle error
return;
}
if(release){
UIAlertController*alert=[UIAlertControlleralertControllerWithTitle:@"New Version Available"
message:[NSStringstringWithFormat:@"Version %@ (%@) is available.",release.displayVersion,
release.buildVersion]preferredStyle:UIAlertControllerStyleAlert];
UIAlertAction*updateAction=[UIAlertActionactionWithTitle:@"Update"
style:UIAlertActionStyleDefaulthandler:^(UIAlertAction*action){
[[UIApplicationsharedApplication]openURL:release.downloadURLoptions:@{}
completionHandler:nil];
}];
UIAlertAction*cancelAction=[UIAlertActionactionWithTitle:@"Cancel"
style:UIAlertActionStyleCancelhandler:^(UIAlertAction*action){}];
[alertaddAction:updateAction];
[alertaddAction:cancelAction];
[selfpresentViewController:alertanimated:YEScompletion:nil];
}
}];

Advanced configuration

The methods signInTester() and isTesterSignedIn give you more flexibility customizing your tester's sign-in experience, so it can better match your app's look and feel.

The following example checks whether the tester has already signed into their Firebase App Distribution tester account, so you can choose to display your sign-in UI only for testers who haven't yet signed in. After the tester has signed in, you can then call checkForUpdate() to check whether the tester has access to a new build.

// Sign in a tester without automatically checking for update
if(!AppDistribution.appDistribution().isTesterSignedIn){
AppDistribution.appDistribution().signInTester(completion:{errorin
// completion block for signInTester
if(error!=nil){
// handle failed sign in
return
}
// handle successful sign in
})
}
// Only check for update if tester is already signed in - do not prompt
if(AppDistribution.appDistribution().isTesterSignedIn){
AppDistribution.appDistribution().checkForUpdate(completion:{release,errorin
// completion block for check for update
})
}

// Sign in a tester without automatically checking for update
if(![[FIRAppDistributionappDistribution]isTesterSignedIn]){
[[FIRAppDistributionappDistribution]
signInTesterWithCompletion:^(NSError*_Nullableerror){
// completion block for signInTester
if(error){
// handle failed sign in
return;
}
// handle successful sign in
}];
}
// only check for update if tester is already signed in - do not prompt
if([[FIRAppDistributionappDistribution]isTesterSignedIn]){
[[FIRAppDistributionappDistribution]
checkForUpdateWithCompletion:^(FIRAppDistributionRelease*_Nullablerelease,
NSError*_Nullableerror){
// completion block for check for update
}];
}

For information on additional methods, including signOutTester(), see the App Distribution reference documentation for Swift and Objective-C.

Step 4: Build and test your implementation

Finally, build your app and test your implementation by distributing the build to testers using the Firebase console.

Visit the App Distribution Troubleshooting guide for help with common issues, such as:

• Tester not receiving in-app alerts
• Tester being prompted to sign in to Google more than once